2 h 31 minAudiobook2 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a bell, a length of cloth, or a porcelain vessel holds more than human hands can make?
In Some Chinese Ghosts, Lafcadio Hearn gathers six tales drawn from Chinese legends, where love, duty, and sacrifice meet the supernatural. The Soul of the Great Bell begins with an imperial demand: cast a magnificent bell. When the work fails, the official responsible faces terrible consequences. Skilled work becomes a matter of survival, and family love carries an unbearable weight.
The Story of Ming-Y explores attraction and the unsettling presence of the dead. The Legend of Tchi-Niu joins filial duty with heavenly help, while The Return of Yen-Tchin-King considers a presence that death cannot simply erase. The Tradition of the Tea-Plant turns to religious discipline and a plant's legendary origin. Throughout, familiar objects bring the marvelous close to daily life.
What you’ll discover
- A bell with stakes Enter a tale where an imperial command places a craftsman's work under terrible pressure.
- Love beyond certainty Follow Ming-Y into a mystery where attraction unsettles the boundary between living and dead.
- Duty meets heavenly help Discover how The Legend of Tchi-Niu brings family obligations into contact with the marvelous.
- Wonder in familiar things See bells, cloth, tea, and porcelain become meeting places for human effort and supernatural mystery.
- Color, sound, and beauty Savor rich descriptions that give these compact legends their vivid sense of material beauty.
Who will love it
For readers who love compact supernatural legends, rich descriptions, and stories where love and duty matter more than shocks. These tales bring together spirits, sacred wonders, devotion, and sacrifice.
What’s inside
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Quelques fantômes chinois
by Lafcadio Hearn · 1887
An emperor's command to make a great bell places a father and daughter under unbearable pressure.
Challenging2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn is a collection of six tales drawn from Chinese legends, bringing together spirits, sacred wonders, love, duty, and sacrifice. Its appeal lies in the way supernatural events grow out of ordinary human pressures: a parent's danger, a lover's longing, or the demand to make something perfect.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
In Some Chinese Ghosts, the supernatural belongs to a world of family obligations, imperial commands, religious devotion, and skilled work. Hearn gathers six tales in which the boundary between the living and the dead is uncertain. These are not simply stories about frightening apparitions. Their wonders often begin with love, grief, or a task that seems beyond human strength.
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What is Some Chinese Ghosts about?
Some Chinese Ghosts contains six supernatural tales drawn from Chinese legends. They concern family duty, love, religious devotion, and extraordinary acts of craftsmanship. Spirits and sacred wonders enter lives already strained by grief, obligation, or demands from powerful rulers.
Which stories are in Some Chinese Ghosts?
The six stories are The Soul of the Great Bell, The Story of Ming-Y, The Legend of Tchi-Niu, The Return of Yen-Tchin-King, The Tradition of the Tea-Plant, and The Tale of the Porcelain-God.
Are these horror stories?
They contain ghosts, danger, and disturbing events, but they are not chiefly built around scares. Much of their force comes from sorrow, devotion, and wonder. Readers can expect supernatural legends with emotional stakes rather than a continuous sequence of frightening encounters.
The author
Lafcadio Hearn
1850–1904 · Greek-Irish writer on Japan
Lafcadio Hearn was a writer, translator, and teacher born on the Greek island of Lefkada in 1850. He lived in Ireland and the United States before moving to Japan in 1890. He wrote Some Chinese Ghosts (1887), Shadowings (1900), and Kwaidan (1904). He died in Tokyo in 1904.
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